Newspaper Page Text
iocese of Atlanta
YOUR
prizewinning
NEWSPAPER
VOL. 4 NO. 2:
71 NORTHERN COUNTIES
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 1966
$5.00 PER YEAR
Institute Calls
For New Look
At Racial Justice
NEW YORK — A national examination of conscience on racism
based on a new definition of racial justice was called for by a
group of religious, civil rights and community leaders on the
eve of the White House Conference on Civil Rights this week.
In a statement drafted at the John LaFarge Institute here,
an interreligious conference center affiliated with America, na
tional Catholic weekly, the leaders said that racial justice
means "something different this year of 1966.
Archbishop Paul J. Halllnan of Atlanta was one of the signers
and attended the White House meeting. Mrs. George Gunning of
Atlanta also attended.
It means, they stated, "economic justice, the end of racism,
correcting past injustices and action now."
The statement called on religious groups to open their doors
to members of all races asserting, "It is not enough to dese
gregate as a matter of policy. Open churches must go forth and
invite other people to join in their worship."
Endorsing the statement was Protestant, Catholic and Jewish
religious officials, heads of major civil rights groups, and top
business, union and educational executives. Most of the endorsers
had participated in a series of discussions on which the state
ment was based.
In calling for "action now," the statement urged all citizens
to see the need to implement immediately such "moral im
peratives" as:
Support for public and private programs which provide jobs
and training.
Legislation and payment of wages that permit men to lift
their families out of poverty.
Education for adults who cannot read or write.
Open housing in all neighborhoods, a perequisite for inte»
grated religious congregations.
And joining "together with other men in groups that promote
the fulfillment of rights for all men.*'
Asserting that "economic justice is now a necessary part"
of racial justice, the statement said that the poor, in large
measure, are not poor because of their own fault, that "sta
tistics on full employment are misleading," and that the break
up of poor families "is the result, and not a cause, of econo
mic insecurity."
"While injustice is harshly applied to U.S. Negroes," the
statement declared, "the new racism bears down equally hard
on other minority groups, the Spanish speaking, the migrant
farm workers, and the chronically poor of rural areas and cities
alike.”
It said this new racism is "blasphemy against God," since
it "separates man from many by the indifference of one and the
helplessness of the other. It denies the fundamental unity which
God gave to the world and all its people."
The statement took particular exception to those opposing
special help for minority groups as victims of “yesterday’s
special privilege." It comparedthe situation of immigrant groups
with that of today's minorities and added, "Negroes and other
minorities in the U.S. have never been afforded opportunities
parallel to those enjoyed by immigrants, and do not, in fact,
have such opportunities today.”
Opportunities afforded immigrants in the past, he statement
observed, included jobs available to unskilled laborers in a grow
ing nation, the unions, political organizations, churches and clubs
that were denied to Negroes.
Concluding, the statement said that "men responsible for the
laws must also be responsible enough to cure society’s sick
ness," and that resistance to civil rights laws "is undeserving in
people who could do more than merely what the laws demand."
"Signers of this document," the statement added, "express
great confidence in the underlying goodness and sense of fair
ness found in citizens of the U.S. To the good and fair people they
wish to hold up the injustices of race that are so readily ig
nored. With respect for each other as sons of God, men can
create a social order based on dignity."
Among the signers were: Father Walter M. Abbott, S.J.,
director, John LaFarge Institute; Dr. Benjamin F. Payton,
executive director, National Council of Churches’ Commission
on Religion and Race; Rabbi Jacob J. Weinstein, president,
Central Conference of American Rabbis; and Dr. J. Oscar Lee,
secretary for program services, NCC’s Division of Christian
Life and Mission.
Others included: Mathew Ahmann, executive director. Na
tional Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice; Father Thurs
ton N. Davis, president, LaFarge Institute, and editor-in-
chief of America; Benjamin Epstein, director, Anti-Defama
tion League of B’nai B’rith; Dr. Robert Gordis of Jewish
Theological Seminary - ; Msgr. George C. Higgins, director. Na
tional Catholic Welfare Conference's Social Action Department;
and Richard Horchler, director, national program development,
National Conference of Christians and Jews.
Also Dr. Dumont F. Kenny, president, Queensborough Com
munity College of the City University of New York; Father
Paul C. Reinert, president, St. Louis University; Bayard Rustin,
executive director, The A. Philip Randolph Institute; Auxiliary
Bishop John S. Spence of Washington, D.C., director, Arch
bishop’s Committee on Community Relations; Roy Wilkins, exe
cutive director, NAACP; and Whitney M. Young, Jr., execu
tive director, National Urban League.
LAMBETH
Bishop Bernardin assisted by Father Ellis De Priest S.M. as he
offered Mass last Monday at the National Cemetery in Marietta,
honoring the deceased veterans of war.
Anti-Evolution Law
Overruled By Judge
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (RNS)
--Arkansas’ 38-year-old law
which forbids teaching of the
theory of evolution in public
schools is unconstitutional be
cause it conflicts with freedom
of speech. Chancellor Murray
O. Reed ruled here.
Judge Reed said in a nine-
page opinion that the law, Act
1 of 1928, "tends to hinder the
quest for knowledge, restrict
the freedom to learn and re
strain the freedom to teach."
He also said a discussion of
the evolution theory in a chapter
of a biology book used by the
Little Rock school system
"does not constitute such a
hazard to the safety, health and
morals of the community that
the constitutionalfreedomsmay
justifiably be suppressed by the
state.”
If the theory had been found
to be such a hazard, Judge Reed
said, then the law "obviously
fails to protect the student in a
private school from the hazard
and thus denies the equal pro
tection of the law."
The decision resulated from
a lawsuit brought by Mrs. Susan
Epperson, 24, a Central High
School biology teacher here.
Judge Reed heard testimony in
the case April 1 and received
briefs from lawyers in May.
Mrs. Epperson saidthe law kept
her from fulfilling her respon
sibility to her students by deny
ing her the right to explain
the theory.
Update
Religious
Brothers
SAGINAW, Mich. (RNS) —
Training leaders of the Fran
ciscan Capuchin Brothers from
the seven U.S. provinces re
commended to their superiors
that steps be taken to upgrade
the public image of the reli
gious Brothers who have been
midway between the ordained
clergy and the secular laity.
"Unless we do have more
trained and competent Bro
thers," the priest said, "we
simply will do very little to
dispel the prevalent impression
that Brothers are lowly ser
vants and not much more.
"We can’t change the image
until we have changed the fact,"
he emphasized.
I'ATIIOI.IC young men from a village of resettled northern
refugees acted as marshals and guards dui.-f.ng a Catholic
protest demonstration in Saigon. They belong to
the self-defense unit of Tan Mai village. Thiy carried beer
bottles filled with drinking water, useful as weapons in case
they were attacked during the demonstration. Catholics
were protesting against recent disorders and suspected
maneuvers to create a "national assembly" that might be
under Communist control. iNC Photos 1
Hubert H. Blanchard of North
Little Rock, assistant executive
secretary of the Arkansas Edu
cation Association, had joined
in the suit as a co-plaintiff. He
said he had two sons in school
who were denied an education of
the highest quality by the state
law.
Judge Reed’s ruling is ex
pected to be appealed to the
State Supreme Court and pro
bably to the United States Su
preme Court. If it is affirmed,
only two states, Tennessee and
Mississippi, would be left with
anti-evolution laws.
John T. Scopes, now of Shre
veport, La., but then a Ten
nessee school teacher, was con
victed of violating the Tennes
see law in July 1925 and was
fined $100 and costs. In 1927
the Tennessee Supreme Court
reversed his conviction on a
technicality but upheld validity
of the law on the ground that
the state’s employees were en
titled to the same constitutional
protections as other citizens.
Judge’ Reed rejected the rul
ing on Scopes as obsolete.
He said, "It is the opinion
of this court that the holding
in the Scopes case has been
modified and made obselete
to such an extent that it does
not apply to the case at bar
and that it should not be fol
lowed."
Archbishop
To Be Honored
By College
COLLEGEV1LLE, Minn. —
Archbishop Paul J, Hallinan of
Atlanta and Jaroslav Pelikan,
Titus Street Professor of
Ecclesiastical History at Yale
University Divinity-School, will
receive the St, John’s Univer
sity PaxChristi Award at the
school’s 109th commencement
ceremonies, June 3.
The award is bestowed at
each annual commencement on
men who have distinguished
themselves bylivinglives which
exemplify the highest of ideals.
Archbishop Hallinan will cel
ebrate Baccalaureate Mass in
the Abbey and University
church. Dr. Pelikan will de
liver the commencement ad
dress, entitled Come Holy Spir
it. Bachelor's degrees will be
awarded to 225 graduating sen
iors. .
Anglican Council
To Explore Reform
LONDON (NC)—The Angli
can Church is planning a month
long "Vatican Councils’ of its
own in London in two years’
time.
The tenth international Lam
beth Conference to be held here
from July 25 to Aug. 25, 1968,
will have as its overall theme
the renewal of the Church, ac
cording to first official details
issued here (May 27). This will
be studied under three general
headings -- the Anglican
Church's faith, its clerical and
lay ministry and Christian
unity.
The conference at Lambeth
Palace, London headquarters
of Archbishop Michael Ramsey
of Canterbury, spiritual leader
of the Church of England, will
be attended by some 500 Angli
can bishops from all over the
world. Related churches are
being invited to send non-voting
delegations and probably later
the Catholic and other major
Christian Churches may be in
vited to send observers.
The Lambeth Conference—
normally held every 10 years
— unlike the Second Vatican
Council is a purely delibera
tive body meeting in private
without either synodical autho
rity or legislative power. Re
ports of conference committees
and recommendations and of
resolutions passed are publish
ed and since its decisions re
presents opinion arrived at af
ter long consideration by a ma
jority of bishops of the whole
Anglican communion they carry
considerable weight.
Since the last conference in
1958 the Anglican Church has
been facing a mounting crisis
inside itself and in relation to
the outside world. The con
ference can be expected to ven
tilate much self-criticism and
soul - searching, and moderni
zation and unity can be expected
to be its major topics. Since
1958, and particularly in the
past three years, almost every
province of the Anglican com
munion has been engaged in
talks for union with other chur
ches while in Britain the status
of the ministry has been a
burning issue particularly in
talks with the Presbyterians
and the Methodists.
¥<
Since 1958, the Anglican pri
mate has also visited Rome,
Istanbul and Moscow. The An
glican Church is due to take
final decisions on concrete
schemes for union with other
Protestants in Ceylon next year,
in North India in 1969 and in
Australia in 1970. Reunion talks
are also going on in Canada,
East, West and South Africa
and elsewhere.
The preliminary arrange
ments for the 1968 conference
made by an international Angli
can consultative body which met
in Jerusalem last April agreed
to the setting up of an inter
national consultative council
which would meet annually and
this also will no doubt be con
sidered.
It has also been announced
that Orthodox Patriarch Jus
tinian of Rumania has accepted
an invitation to visit England
from June 21 to 28 this year
as the guest of Archbishop Ram
sey. This visit will be in re
turn for that paid by Archbishop
Ramsey to Bucharest in 1965.
FOR EPISCOPALIANS
Archbishop Hallinan
Leads Conference
"We can take up any hand
ful of the world’s good things —
knowledge, fraternity, honors,
pleasure, beauty, possessions,
security, — and apply to each
of them the rule-of-thumb, 'we
want to be in the world, but
not of it.’ ’’
This was the theme of the first
session of a two - day Clergy
Conference for the Episcopa
lian Diocese of Atlanta. Arch
bishop Paul J. Hallinan of At
lanta was invited by Bishop
Randolph Clairborne and his
clergy committee to lead the
conference May 25-26 at Camp
Michels, Georgia.
In his first session, "Pro
spects of the Church", the ar
chbishop outlined the Vatican
Council’s Constitution on the
Church. Speaking of the rule-
of-thumb, he added, "our con
cessions to the world will de
stroy us. Underneath each
wordly benefit lies a moral dan
ger. There can be vanity in
knowledge and beauty, greed
in possessions, lust in plea
sure and sloth in security.
"Yet the Church cannot stand
apart from the world it must
save; it cannot remain, in Su-
hard’s phrase, “absent from the
city." The Church has some
thing to say, especially to a
world exploring Bonhoeffer’s
"no religion at all" and Alti-
zer’s "gospel of Christian At
heism." The God at whose
funeral they are presiding is
God-the-villain or God-the-
hero, "it really does not mat
ter. If their theology postulates
a god so false, they maybe
unwitting allies in Christian
ity’s constant effort to preach
the God of creation, redemp
tion and love," the archbis
hop said.
The speaker outlined the con
ciliar decree by looking at the
Church in seven ways: in his
tory, in her own incarnation, in
her inner self, in the human
family, in the world, in the des
tiny of her glory, and in her
reality as the People of God.
The second session was call
ed "Prospects of Unity", and
was built on the decree on ecu
menism. Calling the audience’s
attention to the point that the
Council speaks of the Anglican
Communion as "occupying a
special place", the archbishop
explained the decree as "his
torical and unique."
‘The new spirit, evident to
day, is enkindled, under God,
by the earnest desires of good
men for unity in Christ, and of
all men for harmony of indi
viduals and nations. With us,
as with conscientious men of ot
her faiths. This is not a spirit
of rejection ordisruption, com
promise or easy accom
modation. The change, as Pope
John said, is in the way the sub-
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Prelates Meet
For Prayer
SOCHE, Malawi (NC)—Arch
bishop John B. Theunissen of
Blantyre met in prayer with
Anglican Bishop Donald Arden
of Malawi to commemorate the
visit of Anglican Archbishop
Michael Ramsey of Canterbury
to Pope Paul VI.
The bishops met in the Kwa
cha Cultural Hall for the ser
vice. Some 800 laymen of both
faiths attended, and many others
were turned away. The choir
of the Plus XIISeminary sang
hymns for the service.
Each bishop preached, and
then the congregation recited
the Our Father and Apostles’
Creed, each person in his na
tive tongue. At the end of the
service, each bishop gave his
blessing, and the choir con
cluded with the Magnificat.
Michael Glenn Frick, of St. An
thony’s parish, has received an
appointment to the United States
Naval Academy at Annapolis. He
will report to the Academy on
June 29. Michael, the son of Mr.
and Mrs. Glenn Frick, of 2329
Venetian Drive, S.W., recently
graduated from Southwest High
School, with both academic and
athletic awards. He was a mem
ber of the varsity cross-Coun-
try and track teams for four
years, winning recognition
throughout the Southeast as a
distance runner. Michael receiv
ed his elementary education at
St. Anthony’s School.
LAY CONGRESS
The proceedings of the Archdiocesan
Lay Congress is presently under study
in preparation for publication in The
Georgia Bulletin of a compact and
readable report. Because of the ser
iousness and range of the Lay Con
gress proposals and their imporatnce
to all members of the Archdiocese,
this course has been adopted instead
of publishing the porceedings in the pre
sent issue as announced last week.
THE EDITORS
w.-.-.-